I am about to order a package with a HPS bulb, MH bulb, ballast, socket, etc... only thing is I dont know what size to get. what are the max grow areas for each? whats the max plants for each? what is the max plants/yield you can get from each size? our room is going to be 8x8x8 feet. we plan to have approx 10-15 plants and a 800W bulb... is that bulb too much or not enough? unrelated: I read in the newspaper about how they are trying to charge growers based on how many lights they have NOT PLANTS. their reasoning is because their "expert" said that a 1000W bulb over 1 plant will grow 1 lb on that one plant. OR 1000W bulb with 16 plants will grow 1 oz each for a total of 1lb. is there any truth to what the "expert" said... couldnt you throw 16 plants under a 1000W and get 1lb each? (the amounts are obivously made up/exaggerated, but you get the point... divide it by 4 if you wanna get more realistic ) thanks.
Never seen an 800 watt bulb/ballast. The size will depend on several factors but your room size could use a 1K and a light mover if you wanted to fill that room. A 1K will use all your 8' head space with a foot print of 6x6 max with out a mover. The next smaller size is 750w but they are rare then a 600w but they have only conversion MH bulbs. That expert is mostly correct,those calcs are less than a .5 gram per watt yield either way,the single plant indoors is not as easy as 16 plants eith the same yield. A .5 GPW is average,a full GPW is obtainable and a 1.3 is also which is 1300 grams from one 1000watt bulb,nearly three lbs. indoors.
I would go with at minimum a 1k watt light for the kind of coverage you need, i would say 2 600s would be better coverage wise but on the site i buy from the 1k watt light is cheaper than the 600 watt. 1k watt system www.dchydro.com $87 www.dchydro.com $111 www.dchydro.com $24 www.dchydro.com $4 total including s+h $288 600 watt system www.dchydro.com $111 www.dchydro.com $127 www.dchydro.com $24 total including s+h $316
awesome, thanks for all the help guys. I swear I thought they made 800W bulbs.. with that being said, how many plants can go under each size light? the electricity bill is kind of an issue. so maybe the 600W is the way to go and just use a smaller room. and what exactly is a light mover? and approx how much will a 600W or 1000W light make the electricity bill go up each month... I read here that someone using a 1000W bulb for 24/0 coss 240$ a month!!!!!!!!!! I am thinking of getting this package, approx the same price as housefull mentioned: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=390127168223&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT ps: I live in canada so shipping is 3x what you guys pay!
"with that being said, how many plants can go under each size light? " As many as you can fit in each lights foot print. "and what exactly is a light mover?" A rail with a motorized trolly on it that periodically moves the light back and forth.. "and approx how much will a 600W or 1000W light make the electricity bill go up each month... I read here that someone using a 1000W bulb for 24/0 coss 240$ a month!!!!!!!!!!" There is no need to use HID for veg and that was a california grower i believe they get charged a lot for power because of power damands black outs etc etc. From what i have heard most of Canada runs on hydroelectric dams which makes power a hell of a lot cheaper so it cost a hell of a lot less. Check your bill or call your electric company to find out what there rates are on a KWH.
ok so with all that being said I think im gonna stick with the 600W bulb, it will be a bit nicer to the energy bill. we will make our room 6x6 x 8feet high, with panda film walls. question though.. how do you make an air tight door in the panda film? if the room is 6x6... thats tiny. theres gonna be no room for anything else, like us to walk around, move plants to trim dead leaves etc.... how do you guys manage it? is that 6x6 space strictly for the light and plants, nothing else? with all the supplies on the outside of the room? thanks.
Hello Brother, I just went thru these same questions myself and this simple web page helped me tons. Check it and let me know what you think. ACF Indoor Plant Grow Lights & Information Guide On the subject of light coverage and plant spacing. With a 6'x6'x8' room I would personally go with a 600W HPS on a 4' light mover on the flowering side. Excellent coverage. I put my plants on a 7x7 area and get 12 5 footers easily. It is a little tight for maintaining but do able. I also top mine twice so they are fairly bushy. On the vegatation side I run a 600W HID light. My veg room is 7'x9'. I took the extra two feet to seperate my mothers on a lower shelf under a single 2 bulb 34 watt octron bulb ballast. That is three mothers kept a little cooler with one cool white and one soft white. Air tight? You do not want that. You will need air cooled hoods with your exhaust going outside. If you worried about smell then get a Charcoal Filter system for both your combined exhaust. My veg rooms exhaust is 4" dryer hose. It intakes on the other side of the ballast. I have two 4" intakes at floor level to allow fresh cool air in the room. The dryer hose runs thru the partion wall into flowering room to join up with the same exhaust set-up off the HPS system. They both join into a 6" thru the wall tube into a charcoal box filter box outside the room. I also have two floor level 4" room intakes in the flowering room. You basically want to keep your rooms in a vacumn so that you dont have to worry about air tight. I run a 4' strip of mylar sheeting around each room from planter box up. Also make sure to either reflective surfaces or flat white on everything you use in the rooms. Makes your the light stretch even further. I hope this info was usable and not overload. I have been putting in a lot of hours and work and not much sleep. Sorry if I rambled or confused. Have fun brother
(in New England-National Grid) When I built my room, I added 2x 400w hps 2x 125w veg cfls 4x 26w veg cfls 2x 4" intake fans 1x20" box fan 2x 11" air circulating fans 1x400cfm inline fan a/c (summer) oil filled elec radiator (winter) My bill used to be $50-70 (with fish tank that has been removed) My bill last month was $178.31 It costs me more in the summer as the a/c is needed more in the summer than the heater is in the winter but overall, I'd call it $100-$120 increase,.....about a 1/4 ounce
perfect, thanks for all the help. when I said air tight, I meant with all the fans and stuff. I want to build a room like Jorge Cervantes did in his Ultimate Grow 1 video. with the panda film walls and stuff.. but how do you make door in that stuff, AND be able to control humidity and temperature at the same time? what would happen if I dont use the light mover? money is already an issue, ordering the lights was hard enough. I know how to do the charcoal filters and stuff. just a little confused on how big of a light/room/grow op I want. I think ill go with the 600W bulb, one room for now; 6 feet wide, 6 long, and 8 feet high. thats 36 sq feet of floor space... 2sq foot per plant should be good. ill have about 15 plants.. is 15 plants ok under a 600W bulb? or is that too many? I also plan on putting them into 5 gallon buckets... now where do I find 45 gallons of dirt!! thanks guys.